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Questions about Cost

I am writing a book which involves a large and complex world. I would like to make a map. These are my specifications:

-roughly 30 cities
-black and white
-tolkein-esque

Having looked at all the info on commissions, I notice none has anything about cost estimates. Given the above specs., could someone give me a rough price range? Then I'll consider whether it's worth it to commission one.

It is not entirely clear whether you want a world map or 30 city maps. If the former, then the number of cities is not exactly the most relevant metric to assess the complexity and scope of the project (I mean, on Tolkien's own map, cities are just dots and squares... you can make 30 or 300 of those, it's just the same amount of work, it's the rest of the map that counts).

1 world map. Sorry for the confusion. To clarify, the drawing would be a about half, if not less, than the detail in this (Refer to image). There would be a lot less names. I already have every detail drawn out, just need someone to make it look good.

It kind of depends on the cartographer you choose. Some can perform faster than others and have different skill levels and skill sets. If you look around the forums or browse the galleries for a mapper that has done something in the style you like then your best bet may be to contact them directly with your guidelines. They can then in turn give you their estimate.

Some helpful information to include is how big the final product should be, Whether its for print or not, Time frame if any, stuff like that.

I usually base my price on how many hours i think it would take me to finish the original request with the information given then add a few more hours for corrections and adjustments. That's just me. Others may have another method.

Hope this helps you out in some way. Good luck

Our sense of the stability of the earth is an illusion due to the shortness of our lives.
- Neil deGrasse Tyson

Okay, guys. I just saw on one of your other sub-forums a sticky about commissions. Very informative, they should post it here! Anyways I saw that many of you charge about 50 bucks, so thanks for the help.